Billboards promoting cheap flights to Dubai no longer line Amsterdam’s tram stops. Burger King and McDonald’s advertisements have disappeared from metro stations. Range Rover campaigns have been removed from city-owned digital screens. On May 1, 2026, the Dutch capital became the first city in the world to legally prohibit public advertising for high-carbon products and services — a landmark shift in how a major global city is choosing to align its streets with its climate commitments.
Amsterdam’s city council passed the legally binding measure in January by a 27-17 vote, targeting what it calls high-carbon lifestyles in a bid to meet climate neutrality goals by 2050. The ordinance bans promotions of meat — including beef, chicken, pork, and fish — as well as petrol and diesel vehicles, flights, cruises, and gas heating contracts in bus and tram shelters, public transport vehicles, and city-owned digital screens.
A Law With Real Teeth
The decision follows Amsterdam’s 2020 motion to ban fossil fuel advertising when renewing contracts with advertising operators — a measure that was not legally binding and carried no penalties. The new law applies to all advertising operators in the city whether the city has a contract with the operator or not, making it far more effective than its predecessor.
The law to stop advertising that contributes to the climate crisis was first proposed in April 2024 by GreenLeft and the Party for the Animals. It was approved by Amsterdam’s city council earlier this year. Amsterdam has a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and increase the share of plant-based protein consumed by residents from 40% to 60% by the end of the decade.
The ban covers product advertising — ads for flights, petrol cars, and meat — but not corporate branding by fossil fuel and aviation companies, which can continue until existing contracts expire. All corporate advertising from those industries will be prohibited once Amsterdam’s contract with outdoor advertising company JCDecaux expires in 2028.
This year will largely be considered a grace period, but fines can still be issued. Shops may still advertise inside their own premises, meaning a local butcher can display promotions in their shop window, but high-carbon companies cannot buy billboard space across the city.
Defying the Advertising Industry
The ordinance did not pass without resistance. Before the Amsterdam ordinance was approved in January, JCDecaux — one of the world’s largest outdoor advertising operators — urged city councillors to reject it, warning that advertising revenue helped maintain public infrastructure. The company did not publicly comment after the vote.
The pushback followed The Hague’s successful defence of its similar legal fossil fuel advertising ban. Travel industry groups ANVR and TUI sued to overturn The Hague’s ordinance, which prohibits advertising for petrol, diesel, aviation, and cruise ships. The court upheld the ban, ruling it complies with EU law and serves a clear public interest in addressing the climate crisis.
That legal precedent cleared the path for Amsterdam to proceed with confidence. Amsterdam is the ninth city in the Netherlands to enshrine a fossil advertising ban in its legal system. The decision follows The Hague, which became the first to ban fossil fuel advertising through a local ordinance in 2025.
The Advertising Industry Responds
Support for the ban came from within the advertising sector itself. Creatives for Climate, a global network that coordinated an open letter signed by almost 100 advertising professionals, backed the ban. Community Manager Andrea Mancuso said it represented the industry holding itself accountable: “Advertising doesn’t just sell products, it grants social licence. Our network backed this ban because they know that promoting fossil fuels undermines climate action and public trust.”
The network’s position reflects a broader conversation that has been building inside the creative industry for years — one that draws explicit parallels to how advertising once normalized tobacco before public health campaigns and legislation changed social norms.
In 2024, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for governments to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies, which he called “godfathers of climate chaos,” and likened their tactics to those of Big Tobacco.
What the Science Says
Researchers say the psychological logic behind advertising bans is well-established. Professor Mackenbach from the Department of Epidemiology and Data Science at Amsterdam University Medical Centre said: “If we see advertisements for fast food everywhere, it normalizes the consumption of behaviour of fast consumption. So if we take away those types of cues in our public living environments, that is also going to have an impact on those social norms.”
City councillor Anneke Veenhoff of GreenLeft put it more directly. “If you spend lots of tax money and have lots of policies trying to manage climate change in Amsterdam, why would you rent out your public walls to exactly the opposite? If you’re trying to get rid of an addiction, it’s not very handy to see it everywhere.”
A Growing Global Movement
Amsterdam’s move sits within a broader shift already underway across the Netherlands and beyond. Globally, over 50 cities have announced their ambition to restrict fossil fuel advertising, and within the Netherlands, 12 municipalities have now banned the practice, including The Hague, Utrecht, Delft, and Leiden. Haarlem was the first city to ban meat ads in 2022, and seven other Dutch cities have since begun working on similar bans.
In France, the Climate and Resilience Act, which entered into force in January 2022, prohibits advertising for certain fossil energy products including petrol and diesel fuels — but its scope remains limited and does not extend to airlines, thermal vehicles, or meat products, making Amsterdam’s ban considerably more comprehensive.
Meat consumption in the Netherlands fell to a record low in 2025, with new national dietary guidelines advising citizens to lower their meat intake and replace it with plant-based proteins — a trend that Amsterdam’s advertising restrictions are now designed to reinforce at street level.
Dutch activists are already pushing for the ban to expand nationally. Advocates hope Amsterdam’s model will inspire action in other European capitals, particularly as the broader EU grapples with how to align commercial messaging with its climate commitments under the European Green Deal.
One question remains open: in a chronically online world where people tend to look at their phones instead of a billboard while waiting to board a bus, does Amsterdam’s law go far enough to have a tangible impact on high-carbon consumption? That debate will unfold in the months ahead — but for now, the city’s streets have changed.
